ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
THE NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN has hired Bedford County's first female road deputy and civil-paper server, ``something that's probably long overdue.''
Ever since she was in high school, Wendy Finch wanted to be a police officer. ``But I knew as long as Carl Wells was sheriff, I'd never get on the road," Finch said.
It's true that Wells never hired a woman as a road deputy in his 22 years as sheriff. In fact, there's never been a female road deputy in Bedford County history.
Until now.
Sheriff Mike Brown, who took office after Wells retired in January, has hired Finch as the county's first female road deputy and promoted dispatcher Teresa Silsbee to be the county's first female civil-paper server.
"The sheriff hired the best qualified people. They just happened to be female," Lt. John McCane said.
"It's something that's probably long overdue," Brown said. "There are female law enforcement officers all over the world, and Bedford County shouldn't be any different."
Finch, 25, was selected from a nationwide pool of more than 100 male and female candidates. She was born and raised in Bedford County and graduated from Liberty High School.
She spent four years in the U.S. Army, where she worked in communications while stationed in Germany and Washington state.
For the past year and a half, she has worked for the Lynchburg Sheriff's Office, fingerprinting and processing prisoners in the city jail.
She is working on an associate's degree in criminal justice from Central Virginia Community College.
Now in road training with another deputy, she will be assigned her own car and patrol when she completes her police academy training in about three months.
Silsbee, 29, has been a dispatcher at the Sheriff's Office since 1986. In her job as civil-paper server, she'll be on road patrol as well, serving subpoenas, eviction notices and protection orders.
She said she first asked about the job about five years ago when Wells was sheriff, but was passed over in favor of men in comparable positions who had less seniority at the Sheriff's Office.
"Sheriff Brown assured me that when positions came open, they would be posted, and decisions would be made based on the person and their seniority," Silsbee said. "All I can say is he has held true to his word on being fair and equitable to both females and males, and I really appreciate the opportunity to be given a chance to do this."
Silsbee's not worried about the change in duties or her lack of road experience.
As a young dispatcher, she said, she grew up fast, taking suicide and homicide calls. Her most vivid memory is of a call from a child who was playing with a gun and shot his best friend's hand off. The boy didn't know his address or phone number or how to give directions for an ambulance.
Silsbee calmed him and talked him through the first-aid process while another dispatcher traced the call. The wounded boy lost his hand, but he survived.
"I remember when I first started as a dispatcher, I had a couple of people tell me, 'You'll never make it,''' Silsbee said. "But I think I've proved myself, and I think I will again."
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. ``I think I've proved myself, and Iby CNBthink I will again,'' says Teresa Silsbee, the county's new
civil-paper server. 2. Wendy Finch, 25, was selected as road deputy
from a nationwide pool of more than 100 male and female candidates.
Now in road training, she will be assigned her own car and patrol
when she completes police academy training. color.